97 Responses to “Hawaii 3, CSUN 0 11-23”

Some sadness for me tonight. Ann Miller will be retiring in February so you'll see her being interviewed on the pre game tonight. She began working for the Advertiser in 1980, about a year before I started at the Star-Bulletin. She has been a great colleague. We've shared many a road trip.

CSUN coach Stork said he watched UH's match last night (on TV), thought the Wahine passed well, had changed their passing formation a little since they last played the Matadors.
Said his team knew the importance of tonight's match for both teams. He was more concerned about getting a win to keep their RPI up in around 30 to get a spot in the NCAA tournament.

Unfortunately, due to terrible Internet buffering I won't be able to watch the match tonight or comment on it. I'll have to wait till tomorrow early morning to watch the match as I did with the Davis match this morning. It's such a huge disappointment. Does anyone else have problems with buffering or is it just me?

UH up 20-14. TO CSUN. Seems that Manu-Olevao is the wildcard tonight. She's had a couple of shots that had the CSUN coaching staff looking at each other. Uiato spreading the offense around nicely. Manu=Olevao 5-1-7, Taylor 3-0-4, Adolpho 2-1-4, Vorster 1-0-3, Hartong 1-2-6.

51. The way you're supposed to do a good tip shot is to pretend like you're going to hit it hard, then hit it soft. The Hawaii hitters are forecasting the tip shot and that's why it just looks like they're keeping it in play.

84. No worries, I'm kinda glad you did. Just to set the record straight, some of the reported tiebreaker rules are actually from MPSF men's volleyball such as sets won, not from the Big West women's bylaws.

You can read the detail in section 20.14 of the Big West bylaws, which can be found on the Big West site here: http://www.bigwest.org/code_book.asp. But in effect, the rules are generally based on match won-loss records. When three teams are tied, the tiebreakers are all based on match won-loss records. When two teams are tied, the first four tiebreakers are based on match won-loss records. The fifth and last involves point ratio across all conference matches.

The botttom line is that for UH to get the AQ, UH needs to win out and UCSB must lose two more matches.

That being said, the AQ is somewhat irrelevant as UH is going to get into the tournament regardless of whether it gets the AQ. My view is that UH should win out to maximize its RPI, get a higher seed, and host the first round matches.

83. I'll post an updated version of what I wrote last night to clarify all of the above on getting the AQ bid.

If UCSB wins out and UH wins out, UCSB wins the conference title outright as it will have two losses in conference vs. three for UH and CSUN.

If UH wins out, CSUN wins all remaining non-UH matches, and UCSB wins all but one of its remaining matches, then all three teams will have identical conference records. The conference tiebreaker formula says that teams will be ranked based on W-L records against the other tied teams. UCSB will be 3-1, UH will be 2-2 and CSUN will be 1-3. UCSB gets the AQ.

Assuming UH and UCSB tie (i.e., CSUN loses another match while UH wins out and UCSB loses once more), UCSB wins because first tiebreaker is record against each other (1-1), and next tiebreaker is record against common opponents beginning at the top of the conference standings, and the next team is CSUN. UH will be 1-1 and UCSB will be 2-0. UCSB gets the AQ.

For UH to win the AQ, it must win out and UCSB must lose two more matches in conference. UH and CSUN will be tied at the top of the conference and have identical conference records (assuming CSUN wins its remaining matches). They will each have a 1-1 record against each other. The next tiebreaker is record against common opponents beginning at the top of the conference standings. That would be third-place UCSB with four losses. UH will be 1-1 against UCSB and CSUN 0-2. UH gets the AQ.

UCSB will not likely receive an at-large bid, so it must win the WCC title and with it the AQ to take part in The Dance.

CSUN is now a "bubble" team. For CSUN to receive an at-large bid, the Volleyball [Selection] Committee will have to take away an invite to a BCS "bubble" team, such as UCLA/Pac-12 or Purdue/Big Ten or Arkansas/SEC. And when push comes to shove, the Volleyball Committee avoids currying the disfavor of BCS schools.

UH needs to win out and it will be seeded in the Top 16, and thus automatically be a subregional host. That Hawai'i will not win the BWC crown is not entirely irrelevant, as this will be the main argument used against seeding Hawai'i. (Thus it will be to Hawai'i's advantage for LBSU to (wo)manhandle UCSB, and thus UH can claim to have a piece of the title before the tiebreaker.) But Hawai'i will be seeded as long as its RPI remains in the top 10.

BTW: TV announcers are spreading wrong info. If a team is in the NCAA RPI top 16, it does not necessarily mean it will be seeded as 1 of the top 16 teams in the nation.

The NCAA Championship Volleyball [Selection] Committee -- not the computer-generated NCAA RPI -- is the body that seeds the top 16, and the NCAA RPI is just one of the tools (albeit the most influential tool) used to seed teams 1 ~ 16 and used to determine at-large bids for the remainder of the 64-team field.

AQ (automatic qualifiers) receive automatic berths to the NCAA Championship, but even conference champions are under the control of the Volleyball Committee as the committee determines which teams are place in which bracket. And contrary to what the TV announcer said, not all conference champs are AQ to the NCAA Championship.

Rainbow Wahine need to take care of those things under their control - win out. Then sit back and find out what committee decides. Too much speculation only leads to 'chaotic' and unnecessary anxiety come tournament time. Breathe in, breathe out, know you've done your best and stay calm. Noise is not going to reach seeding committee or change their decision so just be ready for anything. Too much 'should've'. 'could've' and righteous indignation only detracts from focusing on job at hand. Go Wahine! That was a laser focused team effort to celebrate Senior Night in style and only counts if you understand that you can play and stay at that level for rest of the way. Journey is not done till the final whistle, but you showed your best selves last night. Go Wahine!

Cindy, I can say that it will be a sad day for me when you retire. Between your game-side comments (36.) and creating and making the time for this blog, you make not being able to attend games bearable. Mahalo!

It may seem appear that the seniors didn't have a signature night on the court because of the awesome performances of Nikki, Olevao, and the middles. However, Ali had so many key digs and the attackers can only do what they do with good passes from Mita. With that latter point in mind in both matches this weekend, I hope UH nominates Mita for BWC PotW.

it will be strange not seeing these girls next season. it's been a pleasure watching them on the court. they have impacted the program so much, whether it's on or off the court. i was very concerned going into this weekends matches. such a long time off, sometimes isn't good for any team. two big matches, against two teams who beat them in five. happy to see them able to sweep both teams, I was preparing myself for a 5 gamer with northridge. I hope the team we saw friday and saturday stays till the end. this is the team that we have been waiting to show up for a while. all in all, very proud of this team, and our seniors. very happy that both Nikki and Tai performed extremely well this weekend. we need them and also welcome back Kalei. so happy that she is playing more better than the previous games

93. not sure about retirement yet. can't afford it. but thanks for the kind words.
Ann is younger than I am. has made me think about it. But as my son said to me last night. you couldn't handle retirement.

For sure I will miss Ann being around. She's been a great colleague. very supportive. Can't say we were rivals since she was with the morning paper and I with the afternoon for so many years. the advertiser, back in the day, was always going to have the story first. it was a challenge to make my story better for our readers. and she made me a better writer because of it. She and all the Tiser writers I 'competed' against, especially Ferd Borsch when I was covering UH baseball.